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1、海量资料下载 免费学习英语 （申请网址）My Most Unforgettable Character我最难忘的人She challenged us to succeed-and then showed us the way.她激励我们要有所建树：并一直为我们指点迷津。1In June 1976, I graduated from North-western University Medical School in Chicago. When my name was called, I walked quickly across the stage and reached for my di
2、ploma. But before the medical-school dean handed me the certificate, he asked my parents, Anna and Carlo Michelotti, to stand. Surprised, they rose from their seats in the audience. They looked at each other and seemed puzzled.2 The dean told the crowd that my parents, an immigrant Italian couple fr
3、om a farm outside Chicago, had managed to send their six children to top colleges and graduate schools. (Three of us would become doctors, two were already lawyers and one was a physicist.) Its remarkable, the dean said. Everyone cheered loudly.3 Mamas face was radiant with pride. I knew that everyt
4、hing we had achieved or would achieve was because of my parents. When we were young children, my mother, especially, was our mentor . Not until I became an adult did I realize how special she was.4 Delight in Devotion. My mother was born in a small town in northern Italy. She was three when her pare
5、nts immigrated to this country in 1926. They lived on Chicagos South Side, where my grandfather worked making ice cream.5 Mama thrived in the hectic urban environment. At 16, she graduated first in her high-school class, went on to secretarial school, and finally worked as an executive secretary for
6、 a railroad company.11976年6月，我毕业于芝加哥的西北大学医学院。在毕业典礼那天，当叫到我名字时，我迅速起身穿过前台去领学位证书。但在医学院院长把证书发给我之前，他先让我的母亲安娜和父亲卡罗米歇洛蒂站起来。他们惊奇地从观众席座位上站起身，四目对视，似乎有些困惑。2院长告诉台下的观众，我的父母是意大利移民，来自芝加哥郊外的一个农场，他们已设法把自己的六个孩子都送进了最好的大学和研究生院。(我们之中的三个将成为医生，两个已经做了律师，还有一个是物理学家。)“这很了不起啊!”院长说完，台下一片欢呼。3妈妈脸上泛出自豪的光芒。我知道我们所取得的和将要取得的一切都要归功于我的父母
7、。在我们小的时候，尤其是母亲，成了我们的启蒙老师。直到我长大后才认识到母亲是多么不平凡。4乐于奉献母亲出生于意大利北部的一个小镇。1926年她3岁时随父母移民到了美国。她家住在芝加哥南区，当时外祖父在那儿做冰淇淋买卖。5母亲就在这样喧嚣的都市环境中成长起来。她16岁中学毕业，毕业成绩是全班最高的，后来上了秘书学校，最后在一家铁路公司担任行政秘书。6 She was beautiful too. When a local photographer used her pictures in his monthly window display, she was flattered. Her fav
8、orite portrait showed her sitting by Lake Michigan, her hair windblown, her gaze reaching toward the horizon. My mother always used to say that when you died, God gave you back your best self. Shed show us that picture and say, This is what Im going to look like in heaven.7 My parents were married i
9、n 1944. Dad was a quiet and intelligent man who was 17 when he left Italy. Soon after, a hit-and-run accident left him with a permanent limp. Dad worked hard selling candy to Chicago office workers on their break. He had little formal schooling. His English was self-taught. Yet he eventually built a
10、 small, successful wholesale candy business. Dad was generous, handsome and deeply religious. Mama was devoted to him.8 After she married, my mother quit her job and gave herself to her family. In 1950, with three children, Dad moved the family to a farm 40 miles from Chicago. He worked the land and
11、 commuted to the city to run his business. Mama said good-by to her parents and friends and traded her busy city neighborhood for a more isolated life. But she never complained. By 1958, our modest white farmhouse was filled with six children, and Mama was delighted.9 Think Big. My mother never stud
12、ied books on parenting. Yet she knew how to raise children. She heightened our self-esteem and helped us reach our potential.10 One fall day, I sat at the kitchen table while Mama peeled potatoes. She spied Dad out the window on his tractor and smiled. Your father has accomplished so much, she said
13、proudly. He really is somebody.6母亲长得也很美。那时当地有位摄影师把她的照片放在一月一换的橱窗里展览，她心里美滋滋的。母亲最心爱的照片是她坐在密歇根湖畔照的，照片上，她的头发被风吹起，眼睛眺望着远方。母亲总说，一个人死后，上帝会归还他“他最美好的形象”。她会给我们看这张照片并说；“这就是日后我在天堂里的样子。”7我的父母是在1944年结婚的。父亲话不多，人很聪明，17岁离开意大利。此后不久，发生了一起车祸，肇事者逃了，却使父亲只能终身跛行了。他工作勤奋，向工间休息的芝加哥办公楼的工作人员兜售糖果。父亲没受过什么正规教育，他的英语是自学的。然而最终他开起了一家小型
14、的糖果批发店，生意很红火。爸爸为人慷慨，相貌英俊，还是一个虔诚的教徒。妈妈深深地爱着他。8婚后，母亲辞去工作，一心照顾家庭。1950年，爸爸带着3个孩子把家搬到了离芝加哥40英里的一家农场。他一面在农场干活，一面往返芝加哥做他的糖果批发生意。妈妈也告别了父母和朋友及快节奏的城市生活，过起了离群索居的日子。但她从无怨言。到1958年，我们这座简朴的农场白色小屋里有了六个孩子，妈妈非常高兴。9“胸怀大志”母亲从没看过生儿育女方面的书籍，然而她懂得该如何教育子女。她激发我们的自尊心，并帮助我们发挥自己的潜能。10秋季的一天，我坐在厨房桌子旁边，母亲在削土豆皮。她透过窗子看到父亲坐在拖拉机上，笑了。“
15、你爸爸已卓有成就了，”她自豪地说。“他真是个了不起的人!”11 My mother wanted each of us to be somebody too. Your challenge is to be everything you can. Mine is to help, she always said.12 She read to us every day and used homemade flash cards to teach us phonics. She bolstered our confidence, praising even our most ordinary ac
16、complishments. When I was ten, I painted a stack of wooden crates white and nailed them together to make a wobbly bookcase. Its wonderful! Mama exclaimed. Just what we need. She used it for many years.13 In the dining room are two paint-by-number pictures that my sister Gloria and brother Leo did as kids. Several years ag
